Author's Notes-

I wrote this because I'm bored because I'm stuck in bed. Hope you like it!

If you could, R&R it. I'll be so happy that I got my first review!

Who Would Have Thought

Joe Hardy is hiding in the basement. Why? Because his mentally deranged cousin has finally gotten a foolproof way to kill him for (in her mind) letting her sister drown.

I'm writing this from the basement. I don't have much time; she'll find me any minute.

I need to back up.

Currently, my younger cousin is trying to kill me. No, not pretend, she's got a knife and has burned down a bunch of the houses around here.

Who's she, you may ask?

Dara Hardy, cousin on my dad's side. Small but strong (Hey, I've been thrown around by her for years. She started when she was 8. Now she's 14 and has a large hunting knife. I don't know why her parents had one in the house, knowing her.

She's always been a little loopy, always been obsessed with knives, death, superstition and snakes. She also hates me. Don't believe me? On Thanksgiving one year she stabbed her slice of turkey slowly, digging the blade around making big slices while looking at me with very little emotion (But that's normal, her face doesn't change, she never smiles or frowns or anything. She doesn't talk much, either.). She also crushed a jack-o-lantern on Halloween while staring at me with her blank grey eyes. Creepy, right? She's been like that all along. Our parents (both sets) saw it, and she had therapy and stuff.

She's a fast swimmer, like a dolphin (or a sea snake without the wriggling) in the water. And she can hold her breath for long periods of time. Once when we were at the bay she went under and stayed under for ten minutes. Our parents freaked out.

She's pretty athletic on land as well; she's never lost a race and can throw 20 pound rocks like they were pebbles.

So she would be dangerous enough, until you throw in the whole magic thing. Yes, my killer cousin has the power of talking to/controlling reptiles (Yeah, a bit like Harry Potter. A female, twisted evil Harry Potter.), and pyrokinesis. Not sure how those go together.

Why does she hate me? I have to find that memory, but it'll take a while.

I can hear her upstairs, she's calling out for me to stop playing hide and seek and accept my fate already.

Found it.

When Dara was 7 and I was 9, we were at the bay for the first time. Dara had a twin sister, who could talk to mammals and controlled water. Ironically, she didn't know how to swim. Her name was Jay. She was told to stay up on the beach, but she saw the two of us having fun, so she wanted to play too. She came down and we had a great splash fight, built sandcastles, and basically did a lot of kid stuff.

I knew how to swim and teased them by getting out of their reach and telling them to come catch me. Jay decided to and waded out toward me. I was getting the feeling that this would end badly but I ignored it. She got closer and closer but she was pretty small, and her head was craned all the way back and I'm pretty sure she was bouncing on her tiptoes. I know the bay's currents now, but back then I didn't know there was a current she was about to fall into.

All of a sudden she went under. I dove after her and swam around underwater, trying to find her, but she was gone. Her body wasn't found, and I don't know if she got out or not, no one ever announced that they found a girl, alive or dead. She was just gone.

I didn't see Dara again until the next year, and she had changed drastically. Her once lively grey eyes were now dull and glazed, like she had watched TV for too long. Her hair was limp and had no shine. She didn't talk much, only answered questions directed at her, and even then only in one- or two-word replies- unlike before when she wouldn't stop talking.

She was, in short, dead.

And she wouldn't stop staring at me with those cold eyes so unlike her old warm ones. Her eyes were accusing me of letting her sister die and condemning me to death at the same time, never leaving my face.

The first time she actually made a serious attempt to kill me was when we were in the pool and she jumped on me and held me under. Frank pulled her off of me before I passed out, but after that I stayed away from anything larger than a sink when she was in the vicinity, and locked and barred the bathroom door when I was in it.

She also tried burning me. We were having a fire in the yard and as I moved to put more brush on it, she made part of the fire try and grab me. That's the thing about her power- she can't make fires or have them grow larger without fuel, she can only manipulate them to get more fuel. That's how she burned down the houses; she made fires already in the house find fuel.

Then of course she had the reptiles. I have been chased by, bitten by and attacked by so many snakes and lizards and turtles I'm amazed I don't step on the gas if I see one in the road. In fact I'm quite tolerant of them, it's just if Dara's controlling them I start running.

And if you're wondering why she hasn't been locked up…

She was. For three years. Then she escaped twelve hours ago, which is why I'm hiding in the basement as my angry cousin searches the house for me with a hunting knife.

And now I hear the basement door opening, so I am preparing to die, because in about 30 seconds she will find me and stab me repeatedly.

No, wait, I have a large rock. Maybe I won't die.